08.05.09

08.05.09

Tracy Arm Fjord

Again, we were up EARLY! Our boat was to arrive in the Tracy Arm Fjord around 8am, so we sent Ryan up to the top of the Ship to be our "Scout" for weather conditions and to try and see how close we were... Not too much going on yet, but we got dressed warmly and headed up ourselves anyways. We took a couple of pictures, then ate breakfast with Mom and Dad before the "Real Action" started.

As we cruised through, we were overwhelmed by how beautiful and HUGE everything was! 

And again, we were amazed that we were even there, in Alaska, surrounded by cliffs, mountains, waterfalls, icebergs... stunning.

Here's where our day got a little sketchy, and I would like the record to show that this was completely MY FAULT. Me, who planned this whole vacation so very carefully. Who chose to fly out with the kids myself because certainly Ryan would lose them. Who purposefully purchased Carly a neon green jacket so we could always find her. LOST. CARLY. Nice. Mom and I took off to take pictures and I neglected to tell Ryan we were leaving. He was looking over the edge of the boat with the kids, looking at stuff. We have ALWAYS been so careful to say "I'm doing this, you've got the kids..." Always. Huh. So, we get back to Ryan and I see Ben with him, but no Carly. He thought she was with me. She's no where to be seen. Trying not to panic. It's a big boat (and an even BIGGER ocean). We start looking all over the deck... about 20 minutes later, trying not to get too panicky, I run down to our cabin "just to see". Have you ever been on a cruise ship? Can YOU remember always which is the front of the boat, and which is the back? Do YOU remember how all the halls look the same, every elevator similar? It's like a maze. And our cabin was on the 5th floor... I lost her on the 15th floor. 

Anyways, there she was in the cabin, playing her Nintendo DS. Calmly. "Ummmm, how did you get in here?" "well, you know, Alex let me in!" Ok. Try not to kill Alex. We aren't sure he even speaks English. She was perfectly fine, although, I'm still not quite certain how she found her way back to our room. I could hardly find it most days. Blah, blah, blah... we head back up and of course, couldn't locate Ryan immediately to put his pounding heart to rest... so I'm standing on the deck holding her very bright neon jacket over my head, and yes, that's the first thing he saw over the sea of people, and knew she was fine. And he wanted to make very sure it wasn't his fault:) HA! My mom said there's nothing wrong with losing your children. Thanks, Mom. Thankfully Carly was safe. Duh.

Back to the fun part of this day... while I was MIA with Ryan's Mom, we were able to watch the Star Princess come out of the narrow passage that gets you closer to the Sawyer Glacier. The "Ship Naturalist" who was narrating for us over the PA said it would be appearing any minute now, so we were waiting to see it... suddenly it makes it's way out and for real, the woman beside us said, "Well, is THAT the ship?". 

Maybe it's just me, but it really made me giggle completely inappropriately. For a long time. Really? What else do you think that is? Just wondering. Got some fun pictures of it passing us in a very small area.

We were extremely disappointed not to be able to get closer to the Sawyer Glacier, due to the warm weather Alaska had been experiencing. 

There were too many icebergs in the water around it.   (Did I mention that glaciers are BLUE?  you can see that a little easier here with this chunk of glacial ice...)  We got some pictures of it in the background, but REALLY wanted to get very close. *sigh*. We'll just have to go back!

After our fancy lunch in the Donatello Dining room, the kids headed off to KC. They begged and begged to get to go back, they really enjoyed it so very much. 

Just Another Hanging Glacier.  They are apparently only RARE to people who don't live in Alaska!

Mom and I had our own personal Whale Watch, and saw a few, which was fun. Also saw this pod of dolphins swimming by the boat. 

"No One" jumped up for us, but still cool to see them. Ryan took off to watch the Rays game on ESPN, then Mom and I went to the Internatinal Cafe coffee shop to download our pictures and eat cookies. Mmmmm. We swapped our pictures "so far" with her computer and laughed and laughed as we looked at them. It was a really nice time. I must admit, I DID feel slightly guilty to be having all this girl fun with Renae, Rochel and Randee's Mama. But not that guilty. Ha! Kidding. It did cross my mind how much they would have enjoyed being there with us, though. I enjoyed myself so much that I completely forgot to pick the kids up for KC and had to run up there (late!) and get them... the counselors were in the process of trying to locate me via phone. Nice. Really stellar parenting. Exactly the kind of Mothering-Day you want your Mother-in-Law to be a witness to. I really do love your Grandchildren... I just can't seem to keep up with them.

Headed off to dinner (yes, I had my children with me... I hadn't lost track of them again) and shocking, Carly got french fries and fettucini alfredo. Again. The photographers came around again... we were feeling all disappointed that it WASN'T the LumberJack Girl, until the girl that WAS there said to Carly (who was smiling HUGELY), "Hey honey, open your eyes!" Hahahaha... could have been one of the funniest moments I have ever been a witness to. And when we saw the picture the next day I laughed and laughed because poor Carly tried REALLY hard to open her eyes big while smiling, and well, it looked hilarious. I know you are laughing and laughing about that, Tracy! HA!

Kids to KC, we went to the Magic show with the very creepy Guitano. Yikes. And his 1/2 dressed assistant, Monica, who really is a very talented dancer. Or so he said. Glad the kids weren't a witness to that one.

 Afterwards, Ryan and his parents watched Star Trek (such a great movie!) at MUTS and I took the kids to the cabin for showers and bed. This is when I decided it would be a good idea to remove the staples from Carly's head (remember the night before our vacation and our trip to the Pediatric After Hours emergency clinic?). So, of course she's about to hop in the shower (ie, not dressed) and I remove the first 2 fine, the 3rd one must have been against a blood vessel because it suddenly started spouting blood. Everywhere. In the very white, pristine bathroom. And I can't really see where it's coming from and all I can think is her laceration popped open. Ugh. And I'm getting very nauseous. Me. A Nurse. Nauseated by the site of blood. Nice. I sent Ben up to get Ryan from deck 15 (are you seeing a pattern here?)... of course, Ben reminds me before I can convince him to go that he's "not allowed to go anywhere on the ship by myself, remember?" (WHY, HOW do I have such a Rule Follower Son?) and by the time he gets back, the bleeding has stopped and I realized it wasn't opened, just a vessel-issue. Didn't stop the bathroom from resembling a CSI scene, however. Remember when I said it was a fine-Mothering day? Bottom line: Carly is fine, and she survived her Mom on 08.05.09.